Surprise: Your child may not need surgery to remove an appendix

Children with appendicitis might be better off foregoing surgery and taking antibiotics as their primary treatment instead. A new U.S. study has indicates that antibiotics are safer and even lead to slightly better outcomes than surgery.

According to NBC News, researchers found that families who opted for antibiotic treatments for appendicitis over the surgery found that their children often recovered without any need for the surgery.

Appendicitis occurs when the appendix, which is a small pouch of tissue near the large intestine becomes inflamed, thereby causing a certain amount of trouble within the body. Failure to treat appendicitis can prove fatal.

The study indicates that 11 percent of all pediatric room visits are due to appendicitis.

Typically, these cases are treated with an appendectomy, an invasive surgery which removed the inflamed or infected tissue from the body.

However, antibiotic treatments, especially in children, are now being considered to be preferable to surgery.

Antibiotic treatment means a shorter recovery time for children compared to surgery. Additionally, it is typically vastly more affordable than the appendectomy route.

The study, published in JAMA Surgery, screened 629 patients between ages seven and 17 who came to the emergency room between October 2012 and March 2013 as a result of their appendicitis. Around 22 percent of these patients were typical appendicitis cases and were eligible for the study — the remaining patients’ conditions were severe or complex and therefore were not included in the study.

The patients included in the study were then given the option of antibiotic treatment or surgery. Out of the 102 families enrolled in the study, 37 opted for antibiotic treatment.

A year after the study, 76 percent of the patients who chose antibiotics had completely recovered and did not need any further treatment. Medical bills for these families were also $800 lower on average.

Though antibiotics treatment seems to be preferable, Dr. Russell Jennings, who was not involved in the study, stressed in an interview with Reuters Health that patients still need to see a surgeon, regardless of their choice of treatment.

That said, antibiotic treatments are becoming more prevalent and should be available as an option in many hospitals and centers that specialize in the treatment of children.